Market Basket dispute may be game changer

Monday

Sep 1, 2014 at 6:00 AM

The story of how 25,000 associates rallied around the company's ousted CEO, Arthur T. Demoulas, halted deliveries and ultimately created the leverage their leader needed to buy his way back into the job, will be taught, debated and dissected for years.

Staff Reporter

It’s one for the books.The Market Basket saga has secured a chapter in future college texts as a unique case study for business majors.

The story of how 25,000 associates rallied around the company’s ousted CEO, Arthur T. Demoulas, halted deliveries and ultimately created the leverage their leader needed to buy his way back into the job, will be taught, debated and dissected for years.

“The lesson from the Market Basket fight is there’s huge potential in worker-led movements,” said Jess Kutch, a co-founder of coworker.org, an online platform that allows workers to petition their employers for workplace improvements.

While Market Basket employees do not have a union, they were able to organize and accomplish their paramount goal.

“I do think it’s an inspiring story for other unions and companies,” said William Ewell, an assistant professor of American politics and public policy at Stonehill College.

Union enrollment and, in some cases, strength have been been in decline for decades.

From 1983 to 2013, union membership dropped from 20.1 percent to 11.3, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Peter Beisheim, a professor of religious studies at Stonehill College and active in Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice, argued that, with Arthur T. Demoulas at the helm, workers felt they got what they wanted and deserved.

Thus, there was no need for a union.

“Most workers strive for a union when they feel they aren’t being listened to” by their bosses, said Beisheim.